A Parallel World
by ohmycroft
Summary: The Doctor and Rose crash on Earth - a different Earth. When they meet a teenage girl that seems to know more about them than they know about themselves, they begin to wonder whether it wasn't a coincidence they've crashed on this strange parallel world.
1. Doctor Who?

**A/N: Hello there! *waves* This is my first ever Doctor Who story since my recent addiction to the show. It just started as a dream I had, but then it grew into a full story. Not a lot of happening in this chapter, much like a pilot - presents the characters and gives you a clue about what's going on. Please leave your opinion about it in the reviews!**

**Here's chapter 1!**

* * *

"So where are we heading next?" the blonde woman asked in anticipation.

"We're going to Atlanta!" the Doctor announced happily.

"We're going to America?" Rose asked surprised. The Doctor was energetic and excited, like he always was when they were heading someplace special, so why would he be excited about going to America?

"No, silly, to the plant Atlanta. You'd be surprised to know how many cities got their names from planets."

"Surprise me, then."

The Doctor looked up from the TARDIS and smiled. "146."

"146?!" she gasped. "We're really not good with names, aren't we?" she muttered to herself.

"Oh, you'll love this planet: purple skies, four suns, and the flowers there are so big they can –"

A violent shake of the TARDIS interrupted his words, and he and Rose grabbed something immediately.

"What was that?" Rose asked, slightly afraid.

The Time Lord looked at the screens. "Oh, come on!" he cried.

"What is it?"

"The time vortex is gone!"

"What – _again_?!" she asked in shock. The same thing had happened just a couple of days ago! Or was it a week? It was hard to keep track of time with the Doctor.

"I've changed some things since last time. I may not be able to choose the time and place we land in, but I can make sure that we don't crash. It almost killed the TARDIS last time." he said as he pressed buttons and pulled levers.

"Anything I can do to help?" Rose offered.

"Yeah – don't get in my way and hold on to something."

Even though she didn't like that option, she obeyed. Seconds later, the TARDIS shook violently again, and then it stopped.

"We've landed." The Doctor announced.

* * *

The Doctor opened the door, and Rose Tyler hurried out. Only, she wasn't out – they were in a living room, somehow. She didn't even think it was possible to land inside a building without crashing through the ceiling. The Doctor looked around suspiciously, analyzing things with his sonic screwdriver. Then, they heard footsteps. The Doctor pulled Rose behind him defensively and pointed his screwdriver at the stairs. He assumed they've landed on Earth, judging by the furniture and the television, but he was certain it was Earth in a parallel universe.

A girl walked down the stairs. She appeared to be not older than 15, although she was quite tall so she could be older than that. She had short brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a very surprised expression on her face.

"Hello." The Doctor said.

A huge grin spread on her face.

"Doctor!" she called, and ran down the stairs to him.

The Doctor took a step back, still pointing his screwdriver at her. "Back off." he warned her, although he knew he sounded unconvincing. As innocent as she seemed, she knew who he was, and that was never a good sign.

She put her hands in the air. "Look, I'm harmless. No guns, no sonic screwdrivers, not even a pen. Rose, can you tell him he's being ridiculous?" the girl said lightly.

"How'd you know my name?" Rose asked.

The girl looked at them in confusion. She stared at them like that for a couple of seconds, and then her eyes widened and her mouth opened. "_Oh!_" she cried joyfully.

"What is it?" the blonde asked.

"I thought you weren't real. That you're just actors playing characters. But then you came, and since actors have no reason to come here, you must be real. And if you don't know how I know you, that means…" her voice trailed off.

"What does it mean?" the Doctor urged her.

Her smile widened. "That means I know things the Doctor doesn't." she said in a sing-song voice.

The Doctor lowered his screwdriver. "Who are you?"

"I'm… The Writer."

"The Writer?" he asked surprised.

"Well, if you're allowed to give yourself a prestigious title, I want one too."

"But why 'The Writer'?" Rose asked again.

The writer shrugged. "I like writing. I write stories and poems… I've even written a story about you once."

"About _me_?" Rose asked, flattered.

"Sorry, but I meant him."

Rose sulked as the Doctor smiled complimented. He knew it wasn't good that she knew who he was, but he was flattered she wrote something about him. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I'm not as good as Shakespeare," she smiled to herself, as if she remembered a joke, "but it's something. I'm working on it."

"What's it about?"

She put a finger on her mouth. "Spoilers." she said and giggled again.

"I'm sorry, am I missing something?"

The Writer was clearly holding back laughter. "Why, are you not amused?" she asked, and burst into laughter. The Doctor and his companion exchanged looks as she laughed, looks that said – _she knows us._

"So where's the rest of your family?" the Doctor questioned, trying to regain his superiority.

Her smile faded slightly. "My sister flew to Paris for her honeymoon, and my parents are dead."

"Oh." Rose said tactfully. "Sorry."

She shrugged.

"Anyway, do you want a tour around the city? I mean, if you're already here…" her voice trailed off, and her eyes moved to the TARDIS. "Can I see it?" she asked quietly.

The Doctor gestured to it with his hand. "Here it is."

"No, from the inside. I want to see if the 'bigger on the inside' concept is as maddening as it seems." The Writer said as she walked to the TARDIS.

As the Doctor realized there's no point in arguing, he let her inside. He smiled as he saw her enthusiasm. "Oh, this is beautiful!" she cried, and looked around gleefully. "It's much better in real life. Oh, this is _fantastic_!"

Since Rose didn't enjoy her excitement like the Doctor did, she still paid close attention to her words. "What do you mean, 'in real life'? Where else have you seen it before?"

The Writer looked at her, and the mysterious smile was back on her face. "Let me show you."

They exited the TARDIS, and the Writer led them to the front door. Then she froze, with her hand on the knob. "You can't go out like that. You'll be recognized in seconds. If you want to say discreet, you don't want _that_ to happen. I mean, you'll be fine with a pair of large sunglasses," she said and gestured to Rose, "but you definitely need a makeover." she said and gestured to the Doctor.

"What? Why?" he complained.

She looked at Rose as she answered, since she knew she's the one she needs to persuade. "Have you ever seen a man as tall as he is, with hair like his, dressed like _that_, that wasn't the Doctor?"

"Is there a problem with the way I'm dressed?" the Doctor asked, clearly offended.

"No." the girls said simultaneously, a bit too quickly.

"Well," the teenage said, "Let's get you something to wear."

* * *

Rose exited the house first, wearing sunglasses that covered half of her face. The Doctor walked behind her, his hair straightened and neat on his head. He was wearing dark trousers and a leather jacket that reminded Rose a lot of the way the Doctor used to wear when he looked differently, when they just met. She suspected the Writer chose it on purpose. The teenage was the last to leave the house, and she locked the door behind them.

"Alright, so what is it that you wanted us to see?" the Time Lord asked.

"Follow me."

They followed her quietly. They walked next to a road, and followed it when it curled and turned. Rose was certain they were in London, but she couldn't recognize the streets. Then, they got to a main road. There were a lot of TV screens there, each one displaying a different advertisement. Then, one of the screens displayed a new advertisement, and the Doctor gasped. It was of a man he had never seen before, and above him were the words 'Trust your doctor'. Under that were far larger words – 'Doctor Who', a date and an hour. The Doctor had no idea what that show was or who was that man, but he knew one thing – that man was _definitely_ holding a sonic screwdriver.

"What the hell is that?!" Rose exclaimed.

"That's Doctor Who – the show that describes your adventures."

"But – But that's not me." the Doctor said quietly, deeply confused.

The Writer turned to look at him. "It will be."

The Doctor turned around and hurried away.

"Wait, Doctor!" Rose cried, but it was too late – he already disappeared in the crowd. She turned to the Writer, now after answers. "How is that possible? How can we be filmed?"

"I – I don't know."

"I thought you know everything about us."

"Everything I've seen on the telly so far, yes. I should remind you that until today I thought this was just a TV programme."

Rose was silent. What else could she have said? They were in a parallel universe where her adventures with the Doctor were documented and displayed on television as entertainment. She had told the Doctor a while ago they should have their own TV show, but that was _not_ what she meant.

"Let's go home." The Writer suggested, and Rose nodded. The Doctor will come back after he'll calm down, she was certain.

_He'll know the way back,_ she thought,_right?_


	2. The Missing TARDIS

**A/N: Hi again! Thanks for coming back for the second chapter, it really means a lot to me :) free hugs for everyone!**

**Anyway, here's the second chapter! Please leave your opinion about it in the reviews ;)**

* * *

The Doctor stopped walking when he realized it was dark. He looked around. Where was he?

Outside of Rose's home, of course. He didn't even notice he was going that way.

He turned around and started walking back to the Writer's house. But who was she, really? And how was it possible? He knew parallel universes were different, but _how_ different can it be? How was he filmed? And _why_?

He kept thinking about it as he walked back, even though he had no idea how to get back to her house. The idea of having a TV programme all about him was overwhelming, but there was nothing he could do about without revealing his identity to the world, that apparently know more about him than he knows about himself. _How can they know what I'll look like after I'll regenerate before it even happened?!_

He got to her house thirty minutes later, or perhaps an hour later, he left his watch in the TARDIS. He let his legs lead him, and they somehow managed to get him back. It made him feel like his legs know more than his mind does.

He knocked on the door, and when no one answered, he tried the doorknob. The door opened easily, and he entered slowly. He still didn't fully trust that girl, even though she was apparently nothing more than a teenager. He walked to the living room, and found Rose sitting with the Writer in front of the TV with a large bowl of popcorn between them. The girls didn't even notice he had entered. He stood beside them to see what they were watching, and came just in time to see a not-complimenting close-up on his face, the face he had before he regenerated. The face he had when he met Rose.

"Oi, that's me!" he cried and pointed at the screen. The girls jumped and spilled some popcorn on the floor.

"Doctor, you need to see this."

The Doctor remained frozen next to the sofa. He refused to watch his own life as entertainment. The Writer glanced at him.

"It's the first chapter, Doctor. That's the chapter where you meet Rose."

The Doctor's expression softened, but he still didn't sit down beside them. There was a conversation between Jackie and him, and he recognized it – it was when she had seen him for the first time and tried to make a move on him. He laughed at his own stiff reaction and sat down next to the girls. Rose passed him the popcorn with a smile.

* * *

They all went to bed several hours later, after watching almost the whole first season. The only reason they stopped was that the Doctor didn't want to watch himself regenerate. Rose thought there was something else there he didn't want to watch, but she decided not to ask. The Writer offered they'll take her parents' bed, since it's the largest one they had. Rose fell asleep almost instantly, glad to put an end to that mad day. But the Doctor couldn't sleep. After an hour or so of lying still next to Rose and watching her sleep peacefully, he got up carefully and walked away from the room. They were in the top floor, which had four other doors besides the bedroom he and Rose were sharing. All of the doors were closed, but he could see light coming from behind one door. He walked to it and opened it slowly. It was the Writer's bedroom, and that was when he realized why she chose to call herself the Writer – she was sitting in front of a desk, writing something quickly in a notebook in a messy handwrite. The desk was filled with countless notebooks, some lying open on the table and some closed. Since she didn't notice his presence yet, the Doctor looked around the room. Her bed was relatively big, and above it was a rather large poster of Doctor Who – starring Rose and himself. He was standing in front of Rose, smiling with his arms crossed, and she stood behind him with a soft expression. The TARDIS was behind them, and the Doctor Who logo was at the bottom of the poster. The Doctor smiled to himself – it was a nice poster. He should get one too. He'll put it somewhere in the TARDIS.

His elbow hit something, and he caught it just before it fell. The Writer finally noticed him and jumped in surprise.

The Time Lord looked at what he was holding. It was a framed picture of a family – a tall father, a smiling mother, a teenage girl and a happy child that he identified as the Writer.

He looked behind his shoulder and saw the Writer was standing behind him, looking at the picture sadly. "Car crash. They weren't hit by a drunk driver or anything, just a couple of teenagers without a license."

"How old were you?" he asked softly.

"Old enough to move on. Although you can never be old enough, can you?" she looked at him understandingly, and he knew they were thinking about the same thing. "What is it like, to be the last Time Lord?"

The Doctor didn't say anything, just kept staring at the picture he was holding.

"You should get some sleep. Even aliens need to sleep."

The Doctor looked up from the picture. "You're taking this very easily. An alien you thought is just a character is standing in your bedroom, and you're acting like it's no big deal."

She shrugged and smiled. "The stories I write are much stranger than that. This is just another story, only this time I'm not writing it – I'm narrating it. We're all stories in the end."

The Doctor smirked. "That's a nice way to look at the world."

"I do my best." The Writer said, clearly flattered.

They stared at each other for a moment, and then the Doctor's gaze travelled to the notebooks on the desk behind her. "Can I read them? Your stories?"

She took a step back. "No. Not yet. I've also written about things that hadn't happened to you yet." The Writer paused for a moment. "Let's make a deal. Before you'll leave, you'll take the notebooks with you. Read them only after the bride is home safe."

"What?" the Doctor asked, utterly confused.

"You'll know. But you must promise me you won't read them before that moment."

"Alright, I promise."

"Go to sleep now."

"Only if you will."

She rolled her eyes, but nodded anyway. "Fine. Good night, Doctor."

"Good night, Writer." The Time Lord said and left the room.

He fell asleep as he imagined the stories the girl might have written about them.

* * *

When the Doctor opened his eyes, Rose's face was only centimeters away from his. He couldn't help it and let a smile spread on his face, a small and genuine one. He watched her sleep for a while, and then her eyes opened slowly and she stared at his face for a moment, recalling the events of the night before.

"What are you smiling at?" she asked as she noticed his grin.

"Why shouldn't I smile?" he asked, partly avoiding the question, and got up from the bed slightly too quickly. He closed his eyes for a moment until the dizziness faded.

Rose sat up in bed and stretched. "It's been a while since I've slept in a proper home. Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll take a proper shower now as well."

"What's wrong with the TARDIS' shower?" the Doctor asked, using the offended tone he always used when anyone implied something was wrong with his TARDIS.

"No, nothing at all, except for the fact you use it to store a _lizard_."

"It's wasn't a lizard, it was a Barxaqalian, and where else was I supposed to keep it?"

"I don't know, _not in the shower_?" she suggested, unsurprised by the Doctor's usual ignorance about obvious matters.

"It needs water to survive!"

Rose opened her mouth to answer, but then sighed. There's no point in arguing about it. "Forget it. I'm going to TARDIS to get me some clothes, should I get you anything?"

She left the room before he could say anything.

She wasn't worried when she didn't see the TARDIS when she was halfway downstairs. But when she got to the ground floor and realized it wasn't there, she panicked.

"Doctor!" she cried, and he came running.

"What happened?" he called as he rushed downstairs.

"The TARDIS. It's gone!"

The Doctor turned around in his place a couple of times, as if the TARDIS will reappear if he'll just look at the room in the right angle. By the time he did that, the Writer was already halfway to them.

"What's wrong?" she asked tiredly. Then, her eyes widened. "The TARDIS is gone!"

"Yes, I think we've noticed that." Rose said irritated. "What did you do with it?"

"What could I have done with it? I just woke up, and I locked the house last night. It couldn't have disappeared."

The Doctor suddenly noticed the girl is there. It wasn't that hard to believe she had just woken up – her hair was messy, and she was in a blue t-shirt and a short pair of trousers, clearly her pajamas. Then he noticed the words on the t-shirt.

"You sleep in a Doctor Who t-shirt?" the Doctor asked in disbelief.

The Writer looked down at her black shirt that said 'Time Lord' with a TARDIS for an O. "It's not my best. I've a better one, a blue one with –"

"Writer – the TARDIS."

"Right." she said, refocusing on the point. "Okay, so a blue box disappears from a locked house, and there aren't any scratches on the floor, so whoever took it either knows how to fly it or he carried it. Which one's more likely?"

"No one knows how to fly it. No one but Rose and I."

"Alright, so he carried it."

"It's extremely heavy, it's not possible to lift it."

A mysterious expression spread on the girl's face. "Unless…"

She ran back upstairs to her room, and the Doctor and Rose followed. Rose hesitated for a moment when she entered her room, surprised by the notebooks and the poster. But then she stood beside her as she sat down in front of the desk pulled a laptop out of the enormous pile of notebooks. She was surprised she could remember it's there.

The Writer typed something quickly, too quickly for them to read it. She entered some site and read through it quickly. Rose saw her name there, but decided it's best if she wouldn't read it. Who knows what it's about.

"Ah, there it is! Doctor, have you ever heard of the Magnaclamp?"

The Doctor frowned. "Yes, it cancels the mass of any object it's attached to. How do you know about it?"

"Er, you'll see." she said and shut her computer. "Anyway, that's it! That's what was used to carry the TARDIS away!" the Writer said in excitement, and half led half pushed the Doctor and Rose out of the room. She shut the door behind them, and less than a minute later came out, fully dressed. "What are you waiting for, then? We've got a TARDIS to find!" she announced happily and rushed back down.

The Doctor and his companion were frozen for a moment.

"If I hadn't known better, I'd think you've regenerated again and that she's actually you. She acts so much like you." Rose whispered.

"She's watched me. She knows how I think. She knows how I speak. And as much as it scares me…" he started with a distant look.

"You like it. Having someone else that acts the way you do." Rose completed his thoughts. He didn't nod, but she knew she was right.

The Writer ran back upstairs. "I forgot your clothes were in the TARDIS. Let me get you something to wear."

She hurried into her parents' room, and when she noticed they weren't following, she leaned back. "Are you coming?"

The two entered the room obediently.


	3. Making Plans

**A/N: Hi there! I'm back with the next chapter of A Parallel world, really hope you'll like it. **

**Here's chapter 3!**

* * *

"But what if she'll recognize us?" Rose asked as they left the house again. She was wearing a pink dress that she would have liked much better if she hadn't known it belongs to the Writer's dead mother.

"She's 80. Let's hope she'll recognize _me_." The Writer answered, and knocked on the door.

Just like she said, an old woman opened the door. She smiled as she saw the teenager there, and ignored the Doctor and Rose.

"Good morning, Mrs. Mortimer," the young girl said with a kind smile, "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine, dear. And before I forget, happy birthday!"

"Thank you." The Writer smiled lightly. "Mrs. Mortimer, can I have the key to my house? I'm afraid I've lost mine."

The old woman appeared confused. "Didn't your friend give it back to you?"

"My friend?"

"Yes, Emily something. She came by to take it yesterday, so she could get in your house to let everybody in for the surprise party!" Mrs. Mortimer said, and then became worried. "I've ruined the surprise, haven't I?"

The Writer chuckled. "No, don't worry. The party is happening right now, I just wanted to make sure I have a key. I'll just ask Ali for it. Thanks Mrs. Mortimer, have a wonderful day." she smiled and turned to walk away.

The Doctor and Rose turned to follow, but Mrs. Mortimer suddenly noticed they were there.

"Are you her friends?"

"Yes," the Writer answered quickly from behind them. She put her hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "This is Roy Lester," she put her other hand on Rose's shoulder, "and this is Astrid Tyler."

The Doctor and Rose exchanged quick confused looks, and then looked back at the old lady and smiled. "Nice to meet you." The Doctor said kindly.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Mortimer, but we've really got to go. Thanks for your help!" the Writer said and hurried away.

The Doctor and Rose tried to follow, but Mrs. Mortimer grabbed the Doctor's arm suddenly and they both turned to her.

"Are you new here?"

"Yes."

"Thought so. I haven't seen her that cheerful ever since her parents…" her voice trailed off. "I don't know where you're from, but if that's the influence you have on her, don't ever leave." she said with a warm smile and let go of his arm. The Doctor quickly recovered from his shock, smiled back, and walked away quickly.

The Writer was waiting for them with her arms crossed next to her house, just a couple of steps away, but far enough from Mrs. Mortimer's house to make sure she wouldn't hear them.

"You didn't tell us it's your birthday!" Rose called to her.

"Because it isn't."

Rose froze for a second, confused. As the Writer noticed her confused expression, she sighed and explained.

"As lovely as Mrs. Mortimer is, her memory isn't as well as it used to be. Whoever needed a key to my house told her she's planning my birthday party. Since she doesn't remember my actual birthday, she believed it. I didn't want to make her think she's done anything wrong, it would upset her. So I just played along with the lie."

"So all we have to do is to find this Emily." Rose said, slowly catching up.

The Writer rolled her eyes at her, as if she's missing something awfully obvious, and then looked at the Doctor, as if he indeed realized that obvious thing. To Rose's dismay, he did.

"Emily is an alias. If you'd bother so much to break into someone's house, would you have given away your real name?" he explained, and Rose nodded. Yes, it _was_ obvious.

"_Roy Lester_?" the Time Lord asked the teenager suddenly.

She shrugged and smirked. "Whoever stole the TARDIS isn't the only person that can make up names. Roy Lester is an anagram of Rose Tyler."

"And what about Astrid Tyler?"

"Astrid is an anagram of TARDIS. I just let you keep the Tyler, since no one would suspect anyway."

The man stared at the Writer in shock. "Did you just make that up?"

She nodded.

"That's brilliant! How did you do it so quickly?" he said admiringly, and a large grin spread on the Writer's face.

"I just think quickly," she said with a dismissive shrug, although she was clearly flattered, "always had. Just like the Doctor." she winked and started walking. "Let's go find the TARDIS! Allons-y!"

The Doctor and his companion exchanged confused looks for the hundredth time that day and followed quickly.

"Where are we going, exactly?" the Doctor asked after a while of silent walking.

"No idea. I just make it up as we go." she turned her head to look at him and smiled. "But I do it brilliantly."

The Doctor was confused for a moment, but then understood. "I said that, didn't I?"

"Yes."

"Right."

The Doctor slowed down just a bit, to create a gap between the Writer and Rose and him. He leaned slightly to his companion. "So what do you think?"

"To be honest? Something about her scares me. She just knows too much about us, and acts so much like you… I'd say she might be an alien, but she isn't."

"There's one thing I _can_ tell you about her."

"And what is it?"

The Doctor's expression became curious and a bit worried. "She's nothing like anyone else we've ever met."

"I know!" the Writer suddenly cried and stopped. She waited until the Doctor and Rose reached her. "There's this building a few blocks away, a factory I think. For a long time I've had this feeling that something was wrong with it, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was. I finally realized what it was!"

The Doctor and Rose stared at her for a moment, waiting for her to continue. It seemed she hadn't noticed she wasn't talking out loud.

"Er, Writer?"

Her stare focused on her. "Yes?"

Rose raised her eyebrows.

"Right. Explain. The strange thing about it is that I've never seen the door open. Never."

"Perhaps you were just never there when someone entered." Rose suggested.

"No, that's not it. There are windows there, and I've never seen anyone through them. It's like they're just pictures of windows."

"Let's go, then!" the Doctor said, now actually curious.

The Writer smiled at them and started talking again

* * *

The three of them stood in front of the large building and stared at it. It was seemingly normal at first sight, but once they've really looked at it, they saw the problem the Writer mentioned – the windows looked faked. The Doctor walked to the door and buzzed his sonic screwdriver at it.

"It won't open." he announced after a moment. "I don't think it's even a real door. It can't open."

The three of them were silent again.

"So what do we do next?" Rose asked.

"Breakfast?"

Rose shrugged in agreement.

"There's a nice diner around the corner. The owner owes me a favor so we wouldn't have to pay."

"What kind of favor?" the Doctor questioned.

"There was a fire in school a couple of weeks ago. I ran back inside to get his daughter out." The Writer answered casually without looking at them. After a few seconds of silence, she realized they were staring at her. "What?" she finally asked.

"You ran into a fire!" Rose said, as if she missed that part of the story.

"I know, I was there."

"You could have died!" the Doctor said, shocked as well.

"And so could she. What makes my life more important than hers?"

"But you could have both died!"

"What better way is there to die than by trying to help someone?" the teenager said calmly.

Rose looked at the Doctor helplessly, waiting for him to say something that'll make the young girl realize how dangerous her actions were, but he was quiet. At first Rose thought he was surprised like she was, but then she saw something else in his eyes – admiration, or perhaps empathy, to that young girl who risked her life to save someone else's.

The Writer opened the diner's door, and a bell rang as the door opened. They entered the empty diner, and the owner looked up from the newspaper he was reading.

"Lifesaver! Haven't seen in you for a while."

The Writer smiled. "Good morning, Joe. How's the business?"

"Does anyone call her by her name?" Rose muttered to herself.

Joe gestured to the empty diner. "Same as always."

"What did you break this time?" she asked with an amused sigh, and the diner owner looked away for a moment in fake embarrassment.

"The toaster."

"Again?" she laughed.

"Who are your fri – " Joe started, but then surprise took its place on his face and his mouth opened. "David Tennant and Billie Piper! How did _you_ become friends with them?!"

"It's about time someone would recognize them." The teenager muttered and rolled her eyes with a smirk.

The balding man hurried from behind the counter and shook their hands in enthusiasm as they did their best to hide their surprise. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Anything you want – it's on the house."

"Where's my tool box?" the Writer asked.

"Right where you left it." Joe answered.

"Alright, then. I'll be back in a minute." she assured her friends, and left to a side room where her tool box probably was.

Joe focused his attention on the supposedly celebrities. "Please, have a seat." he gestured to a nearby table, and they sat down with an awkward smile. Neither of them was used to be a celebrity. Well, at least Rose wasn't.

They stared at the table until Joe brought them menus and, finally, went to the other room to see what the Writer was doing. Rose stared at the red tablecloth for a moment, and then looked up to meet the Doctor's gaze. They looked at each other seriously for a second, and then two joyful smiles spread on their faces.

"_Billie Piper_?" the Doctor said, clearly amused.

Rose laughed. "Look who's talking, Mr. _David Tennant_."

The two of them giggled.

"Can you believe that?" Rose said after a moment. "They genuinely think we've actors, and that you're just a story. We don't even need fake names – they've given us ones!"

The Doctor's expression turned serious."Someone's trying very hard to make us powerless, and I can't bear not knowing who it is."

Rose's smile faded for a second, but then she put her hand on his and gave it a squeeze. She smiled a small comforting smile. "Don't worry," she assured him, "we'll find the TARDIS and whoever took it and we'll make it. We always do."

The Doctor smiled faintly at her and squeezed her hand.

The Writer suddenly appeared behind the Doctor.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked, and made the two of them jump. They quickly let go of each other's hand, and said "No." simultaneously.

Only then they noticed she was wearing 3D spectacles.

"I thought you were fixing his toaster."

"That's exactly what I did." she answered casually as she sat down next to the Doctor.

"Then why are you wearing these glasses?" the Time Lord asked.

The Writer shrugged and, without giving any further explanations, picked up her menu and read it. To Rose's dismay, the Doctor did the same without asking an explanation. As she realized she wouldn't get a proper answer, she picked up her menu as well.

* * *

After the free breakfast, the three of them headed back to the Writer's house to come up with a way to enter the mysterious factory. They walked quietly, each one thinking of a way they could get in that building, because there was one thing they were sure of – the TARDIS was in that building.

When they got to the house, the Doctor drew a sketch of the building.

"There's an empty building in the middle of the street. It has neither a door nor windows, yet it is possible to enter it without attracting attention."

"Does it have a chimney?" Rose asked, with a new idea in her head.

"No."

"Oh." she replied, disappointed.

They three of them stared at the drawing for a couple of minutes.

"We clearly don't have any new ideas."

"Yes, thank you for pointing that out." Rose answered irritated.

"Do you know what I do when I need to concentrate in something?" the Writer asked rhetorically.

The Doctor and his companion looked at her in anticipation.

"Distract myself from it."

And so the three of them found themselves watching 5 more episodes of Doctor Who. Even though the Doctor would never admit it, he liked the programme. It presented him as the heroic rescuer, and he liked that image. They were in the middle of their fifth episode, when the Writer suddenly cried: "I know!", and made the Doctor and Rose jump.

Before either of them could ask, she grabbed a pen and the paper on which they drew the sketch of the building. "We did it wrong!"

"I'm sorry, _what_ exactly did we do wrong?

"The sketch! Doctor, you drew the building and the houses next to it as different units, but they're connected!" she scribbled in the space between the drawn buildings until it looked like they're adjacent to each other.

"So there must be a door connecting them!" the Doctor announced happily, finally catching up. "Oh, you're brilliant!"

"Can any of you explain?"

The Writer was the one to do so. "The empty building and the houses next to it are adjacent to each other. The only possible way to enter the building is through a door that connects the house and the building. Think about it – who would suspect people getting in and out of a house?"

Rose nodded slowly as the bits of information began making sense. "So all we have to do is to get in that house, and we're in!"

"Exactly!" the teenager confirmed, and then smiled excitedly. "Let's go. We'll be out before it's time for lunch."

The Doctor and Rose got up immediately, thrilled to finally be active again. The Writer almost ran to the door and opened it as she said "Allons-y!", which made the Doctor smile.

* * *

The Doctor, his companion and their teenager friend stood in the street in front of the mysterious building.

"Whatever's in there," the Doctor thought out loud, "it wants me to get inside. That building is the trap, and the TARDIS is the bait. Nevertheless, I have no other choice but to enter."

"Of course you have!" the Writer announced. "We're going to break into a house in a main street. We need a distraction. If only we had a famous actor that could get everyone to notice him…" she said with a cunning smile, and the Doctor grinned as well.

"How am I supposed to get them to look at me?"

The teenager looked around them for a moment and then found what she was looking for. "You see these four girls over there?" she pointed, and the Doctor nodded. "They're in my class, and they _love_ Doctor Who. Bump into them 'by accident', and they'll create the distraction for you."

Rose pushed the Doctor towards the girls. "Off you go."

The Doctor looked at the girls for a moment, and when he turned back, Rose and the Writer were almost at the house's door.

"Oi." he called, and they turned around. "Be careful." he said seriously.

Rose smiled reassuringly, and the girls turned back to the house.

* * *

**So what do you think is in the empty building? A friend? An enemy? And who is it? Leave your guess in the reviews and find out if you got it right in the next chapter ;)**


	4. Not Clever Enough

The girls could hear the screams of the excited girls from where they stood in front of the door. Rose tried the doorknob, but it obviously didn't work.

"How are we going to get in? The Doctor took his screwdriver with him."

The Writer pulled a hairpin out of her hair and smiled.

"There's always the chance they're using the sonic signal to track him down," she said, and then unlocked the door with the hairpin.

"Hold on, but aren't there two houses? How do we know that's the right one?"

"We don't," she answered as she opened the door, "but it is."

Fortunately, she was right. The house was entirely unfurnished, and there was nothing in it except for a single door heading to the direction of the mysterious building.

The Writer hurried to the door excitedly and broke into the building with the hairpin. Just as she was about to get in, Rose grabbed her arm and pulled her back gently. Her expression softened as she saw the confusion on the girl's face.

"Look, you've been _very_ helpful, but you can't go in with me."

The teenager stared at her. "You're joking."

"No, I'm not. I'm sorry, but you're too young for this. Whatever's in there is dangerous, and –"

"Don't tell me about dangerous," the Writer interrupted angrily, "I've seen more dangerous things that you've ever seen, and been in more dangerous situations than you'll ever be. Whatever's in there, there's a better chance I'll know it than that you do."

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you get through." Rose said apologetically.

The Writer's begging expression didn't make Rose change her mind.

"Promise you won't come after me."

"No!"

"Promise me!"

The Writer groaned. "Fine! I promise!"

Rose smiled softly. "Good. Don't worry, I'll see you soon enough."

The Doctor's companion entered the building and shut the door behind her, and the Writer kicked it in anger.

* * *

Rose Tyler walked slowly in the long white corridors, being very careful not to make any noise. As she walked there, she realized she was all alone – the Doctor was outside doing… something, and the Writer was waiting outside. For a moment she regretted forbidding the teenager to come with her, but then she shook that thought out of her head. This most definitely wasn't a safe thing to do, especially not for a child, as old and mature she was.

As she got to the end of the corridor, two men walked pass it. She clung to the wall next to her instantly. Fortunately, they didn't notice her. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in, and after a minute walked to the end of the corridor. It led to another one, so she kept walking and hoped that no one would see her. She thought for a moment about what could happen if those men would have noticed her, but she erased the thought from her head immediately. Instead, she thought of how proud and happy the Doctor will be when he'll see she got the TARDIS all by herself. She smiled to herself at that thought.

She walked in the white corridors quietly, pausing in front of each door. Every time she got to a door, she put her ear against it, to make sure no one was in there. Then, she opened it to a small crack and peeked inside to be certain the room was empty. Only after she _knew_ it wasn't dangerous to get in the room, she opened the door fully and entered. The TARDIS wasn't in any of those rooms, and the more rooms she entered the more frightened she became. There were strange devices in the rooms, and a kind of technology she had never seen before, and most certainly didn't belong to humans. But she kept going, for the sake of the change she has to find the TARDIS and get safely back to the Doctor.

Another door. Rose put her ear against it, and heard nothing. She opened it to a small crack and peeked inside, and saw no enemy. The room was still quiet, so she entered it. The TARDIS was inside, glowing gently in the white room as if it's happy to see her. A large grin spread on Rose's face and she walked to it. She looked for the key necklace on her neck, but she couldn't find it. She checked her pocket for it, but then it occurred to her that these weren't her clothes. She suddenly remembered very clearly where exactly the key was located in the TARDIS.

"Of course I left my key inside." Rose muttered quietly.

Only she wasn't quiet enough. The man that was guarding the TARDIS came from behind it, suddenly aware of the intruder. He aimed a large gun at her, and she put her hands in the air, defeated.

The man led her into a large room, with more of the alien technology. As they got closer, Rose noticed two large metal platforms, that were almost vertical to the floor but were slightly tilted back. One person was already secured to one of them, and he smiled at her in relief.

"Rose, you're alright!" the Doctor said in relief.

The blonde stared at him in disbelief, as the TARDIS' guard and a second man secured her to the platform. She struggled against them, but they were much stronger than her.

"_Alright_?" she said, very irritated. "Is this what you call 'alright'? How did _you_ even get here? All you had to do was to create a distraction outside!"

The Doctor sighed, in Rose's opinion, far too calmly. "It's a long story. There was a dog. A large dog. With big teeth." The Doctor exposed his teeth and attempted to mimic an intimidating bark that ended up sounding like a strange cough.

"You got caught because of a _dog_?" Rose repeated, shocked and even angrier than before. The Doctor was her backup plan – if anything went wrong, she kept saying to herself, the Doctor will come to rescue her. Only apparently he wasn't much of a help as she thought he was.

"It wasn't _just_ a dog! I said there _was_ a dog, but that's not the whole story!" the Doctor said defensively, trying to make himself sound less helpless, which might have worked if he hadn't been actually helpless at that moment.

"Would you please focus on getting us out of here?" his companion reminded him, and he immediately put on a serious expression, or as she called it, his I'm-the-Doctor-I-have-alien-authority-tell-me-what-I-want-to-know expression. Not that she'd ever tell him about that name.

"Who are you working for? Why are you doing this?" the doctor asked the men, but they remained paralyzed, like two robots someone forgot to monitor.

His answer came from a different direction.

"They are working for us." a robotic voice said from behind them, and the time travelers' eyes widened in terror.

A Dalek came from behind them, and Rose had a feeling that if Daleks had faces, this one would have had a smug smile spread all over its face.

Rose looked at the Doctor desperately, waiting for him to say or do something that will make her feel safe, but he remained silence, frozen in utter shock and terror. After a moment, he recovered.

"This isn't your universe. How did you get here? What do you want?"

"Scan them." The Dalek said, ignoring the Doctor's question.

One of the men obeyed, and pulled out a small black device that reminded Rose of an electric razor. He aimed it at the Doctor's face, yet the Time Lord didn't flinch. Instead, he closed his eyes.

"What is that?" she asked.

"It's an IQ gauge. It measures intelligence, determines what species was scanned and defines how intelligent a creature is based on the intelligence scale of its species. For example, the Time Lord's scale is from 700 to 1000." he answered as the gauge scanned him. A bright blue light flickered on his face, and then the scan was over.

"915. Time Lord. Highly intelligent." The gauge announced, and the Doctor smiled in satisfaction. His smile slightly faded as he saw Rose's irritated look, which said: _This is not the time or the place to show off how clever you are._

The man moved to Rose then, and pointed the device at her face.

"Close your eyes," the Doctor suggested, "makes the light less blinding."

The blonde did as he suggested, and waited for the results. She knew that this IQ scan wasn't a good sign, but struggling would be no use, and besides, she wanted to know how clever she was.

"115. Human. Average." the device announced, and Rose sulked.

The Doctor opened his mouth to say something that'll make her feel less… Well, average, but he decided it would be best if he kept his mouth shut.

"She will do. Take her." The Dalek ordered, and the men walked to Rose.

"Don't you dare!" she glared at them, but they clearly didn't hear her.

The men were suddenly smacked on the head with something, and they fell down on the floor. Rose tried to turn her head to see her savior, but whoever it was stood behind the platforms.

"The intruder will be exterminated!" the Dalek said and aimed at the person behind them.

"Do you actually say that?" a familiar voice asked, and Rose's eyes widened in surprise. "I thought this was just a catchphrase for the show. It's a bit silly, saying 'exterminate' all the time, isn't it?"

The Writer walked between the platforms and stood in front of the Dalek. She dropped a pipe Rose remembered seeing on a desk behind them and put her hands in the air – not in a defeated way, in a teasing way.

"Go on," she said, "_exterminate_ me. Because that's what Daleks believe in, isn't it? Extermination. You'd rather exterminate me than to wonder for a second how I know all of these things about you. Unless you're _clever_."

The Dalek was frozen for a moment, and then it stopped aiming at her and she smiled smugly.

"Who are you?" it demanded.

"I'm the Writer."

"That's not a name."

"You don't even _have_ a name; you're not exactly in a position to judge me."

The Dalek was silent for a second.

A knowing smile spread on the Writer's face.

"I get it. Very clever, Daleks. Very clever indeed."

"What's clever?" the companion asked, completely baffled.

"It didn't ask me how I know about them. I thought it was just hesitating at first, but then I realized – _they_ are the creators of the show. They had planned this whole thing ages ago, and they were just waiting for the right moment. And now the moment has arrived, and the show begins. But what is the show, exactly?" she asked the Dalek as she walked closer to it. "What's your great plan that required all of this hard work?"

"Scan her." the Daleks ordered, and a man appeared out of nowhere from behind her and pointed a black device at her head. She squinted at the blue bright flickering light.

"153." the device announced. "Human. Highly intelligent."

"What the _hell_ was that?!" she exclaimed.

"This one is better. Take her." The Dalek ordered, to her and the Doctor's dismay.

The man that scanned her and a second one grabbed the Writer's arms, and she immediately struggled against them. "Let go of me!" she hissed.

"The other woman is no longer needed. Exterminate her."

"What?" Rose cried in fear.

"Wait!" the Writer yelled, and everyone froze. She looked at the Dalek calmly. "Look, you need me. I don't know what for, but you need me. I can fight, you see, and although it might not stop you from getting what you want, it could cause you a _lot_ of damage." she paused for a second to let the Dalek realize she was serious. "I want to propose a deal. You'll keep Rose Tyler alive and well, and I'll cooperate."

"Writer, don't!" Rose cried.

The teenager ignored her. She didn't break the eye contact with the Dalek as she watched it ponder her offer.

"I accept your deal." it said at last, and she took a deep breath.

"Good. And don't try to fool me and kill her when I'm gone, because that would only make you look weak, and that'd be a shame." she warned. The men began pulling her towards the door, and she pulled her arms away from their grasp. "Are you deaf?" she asked them irritated. "I just said I'll cooperate. You don't have to drag me there." she knew they probably couldn't hear her, but she spoke to them anyway.

She walked with the two men on her sides as the Doctor and Rose struggled against the platform they were secured to.

One of the men opened the door, and just before they entered the next door, the Writer turned to the prisoners with a reassuring smile.

"Doctor, this is not your fault. Don't blame yourself, because you have nothing to do with this. On the contrary – you were fantastic, absolutely fantastic. And you know what?" she paused for a moment to let the Doctor remember why her words were so familiar to him. "So was I." she said with a grin, and then walked out of the room.

The door closed behind her, and Rose cried out in frustration. She kept struggling against the metal platform, but it was no use. She looked at the Doctor, and hoped that as always, he'll suddenly come up with a plan to save her. But the Doctor wasn't fighting – he was lying still on the platform and stared at the air in front of them thoughtfully.

"Doctor?"

"Did you recognize her words?" he asked without looking at her.

"No. Was I supposed to?"

"It was what I said before I regenerated. My last words." his voice trailed off for a moment. "Why would she say that? Thousands of things to say, and that's what she chose. Why?"

"Perhaps she just wanted to quote you."

"But what quote _that_?" he insisted, and finally made eye contact with his companion. "You've heard what the scanner determined – she's clever. Very clever. She knew these were her last words to us, and she wouldn't have wasted them. She saw what's in that room, and she turned around to tell us what's in it, without actually telling us the words. She chose to say what I've said before my last regeneration. _Why_?"

Rose frowned thoughtfully. No wonder the scanner determined the Doctor was highly intelligent – she would have never thought of analyzing the Writer's words.

"What if she meant that she wasn't really leaving us? That this isn't a goodbye?"

The Doctor nodded slowly, considering Rose's suggestion. "Yes, that makes sense. She said that she was leaving us now, but we'll meet her again, only she'll be different then the way she is now. But how can she be different?"

As if on cue, two men came to them. Both of them walked to the Doctor, and one of them held a knife above the Doctor's left arm. Before either of them could respond, he cut the Doctor's shirt's sleeve.

"Oi! I like that shirt!" he protested.

The second man pulled down the sleeve and exposed the Doctor's arm. He put a needle near it, and the Doctor began fighting against them.

"What are they doing?" Rose asked in fear.

"They're trying to take my blood. Whatever they need it for, it can't be good." The Time Lord explained.

As strong as the Doctor was, he was outnumbered – one man grabbed his arm and pushed it against the platform as the other stuck the needle in it. The Doctor and his companion could now see that the needle was connected to a tube that quickly filled with blood that flowed into an empty blood bag. His blood looked normal to Rose at first, but the longer see looked at it, the more different it seemed to her – it was a shade too light, and it glowed slightly in the white light. The men pulled the needle out once the blood bag was full, and left to the next room, the room the Writer was in.

The Doctor's eyes suddenly widened, and he whispered: "No."

"What is it?" the woman asked in worry. There was something wrong with the Doctor's expression. So far it was simply afraid, or brave, or even calm, but there was something else in his eyes, something she couldn't pinpoint. Sorrow? Hurt?

"I know what they're doing to her." he said, almost too quietly for her to hear.

Rose opened her mouth to ask him to explain, but she couldn't say a word. The Doctor looked like he's made of glass, and she felt like her words might break him.

She didn't have to wait too long. A moment later, a scream echoed in the room, and Rose flinched. A second scream followed it, and Rose felt tears rolling down her cheeks.

A Dalek exited the room, and as the door opened they could hear the screams much more clearly. Rose was grateful when it closed.

"Stop it! What are you doing to her?" she cried and glanced at the Doctor, who was firing invisible laser rays of hatred from his eyes at the Dalek.

"There's a machine in the TARDIS that can alter a Time Lord's genes into a different species, and stored the Time Lord part of him in a watch. But if monitored correctly, it can be used to alter any species' genes into any other species, but it will only be temporary, and changing back into your original species is a very painful process so nobody does that." The Doctor paused and took a deep breathe. "But if you put DNA in the machine, it can replace your DNA with it, and change you permanently." he said grimly.

"So you mean that…" Rose started, slowly understanding why the Doctor was being so gloomy.

"We put the Doctor's blood in the machine." the Dalek continued her. "The process has started."

"Please, stop. It's not too late to stop. _Please_." the Doctor begged, and another heartbreaking scream echoed in the room. "You'll erase her human memories alongside with her humanity. You'll delete everything that's making her who she is. _Please_, stop."

"Doctor…" Rose tried. She knew the Daleks wouldn't stop the process, and she knew he knew it too. But he asked them anyway – he didn't even ask, he _begged_ – and that could mean one of two things: he was either giving them a chance to surrender before he perishes their plan, or he was truly desperate. She was afraid it was the second option, and that there was genuinely nothing they could do.

"The Doctor will be exterminated by his own daughter!" the Dalek announced triumphantly, and then left.

The Doctor began struggling against the platform, but not like he did so far – he did it frantically, like a beast trying to escape its cage.

"Doctor, stop it." Rose asked him quietly, but the Doctor didn't hear her. Not because she was speaking too quietly, but because the only thing he could hear were the Writer's screams. She screamed in pain, and he tried even harder to break free.

"Doctor, stop it!" Rose cried as she felt warm tears on her face. "You'll hurt yourself!"

The tied man heard her this time, her words dripping slowly into his consciousness. He looked his hands that were tied to the platform, and he could see blue and purple mark on them. _Did I do this to myself?_ he wondered. He didn't feel any pain. All he felt was just a need to break free, to stop being chained, to stop being helpless. His companion and he were held captive in a building they entered voluntarily, and a young girl that did whatever she could to help them, including risking her life, was having her humanity removed alongside with her memory in an excruciating process.

The Doctor tried to break free again, and a noise came from the platform. He managed to bend it slightly, but still not enough.

The Dalek noticed his achievement as well. "Sedate him." he ordered his human soldiers, and they obeyed.

The men approached the Doctor, one of them holding a syringe full of liquid. The Doctor kept trying to get him hand out, and at the same time tried to keep the men away from him. But one of them managed to get a hold of his head, just for a second, but it was long enough for the second to insert the syringe into the Doctor's neck and inject him with the anesthetic. Seconds after they did, the Doctor's eyes closed heavily and his head fell back on the platform.

"_Doctor_!" Rose cried in fear and concern. "Doctor, please wake up! Please!" she begged, even though she knew it's no use. "I can't do this on my own." she whispered.

She didn't know how much time passed until the Writer stopped screaming. It felt like ages to her. The Doctor was still asleep, his head dangling over his shoulder as if he's…

Rose opened her eyes when she noticed the screams were gone. She knew it meant the process was finished and that it wasn't a good thing, but she couldn't help feeling relieved – listening to those screams was unbearable, and being tied helplessly as the only man who could save her was sedated made it even worse.

The Dalek entered the room where the Writer was, and the human soldiers entered after him – they must've thought she wasn't a threat so she didn't need supervising. They didn't close the door behind them. She couldn't see what's inside it, but it let her hear what was going on in there.

"Hello." she heard the Writer's voice say quietly, clearly confused.

"Do you know who you are?" a Dalek asked.

There was a short pause. Rose could picture her in her mind – lying, or perhaps sitting, in front of those Daleks and humans, frowning, and trying to fish a piece of information out of her empty mind – her name.

"I'm… The Writer." she said hesitantly, as if she's waiting for their approval. "And who are you?"

"We are Daleks." a different Dalek said. "We are your friends."

"_No!_" Rose screamed.

Someone closed the door.

* * *

**A/N: So that's it! I'll probably write a sequel to this story at some point, but for now - this is the end!**

**Thank you so much for sticking with me this far, it really means a lot! *hugs* I probably should mention that I came up with this plot BEFORE I watched The Doctor's Daughter (I'm new to the fandom, currently at the end of the fourth season), so it really was a coincidence when I found out there's a chapter similar to my idea. I've decided to write it nonetheless, because the rest of the plot (and the future plot) is very different so I thought it was worth a try.**

**Please leave your opinion about it in the reviews!**

**Have a great day :)**


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